Arrests at breakaway

I don't mean to be especially critical in public. I admire the bravery of anyone willing to do symbolic arrest, becaue if you have your head screwed on right and are conscious of the global situation, and the grave consequences of current policy in the areas of intervention in the middle east where tens or hundreds of thousands have died, and it could escalate into an actual 'weapons of mass destruction' situation with nuclear etc devices, or the consequences of oil where global warming pretty much will force human migrations and deaths --- if you are aware of this, you will know this is actually more important than saving a single endangered species or San Quentin executing an inmate or anything like this that someone might commit nonviolent civil disobedience for

That said, a few elements of the breakaway played badly in the media, and in retrospect, I think that it would have been superior if a few people had dressed as hippies or quakers and did good-old vanilla civil disobedience by chaining themselves to the Bechtel building again or sitting down at a gas station and not moving.. or whatever. Specifically, it looked a bit bad when people threw that store's aluminum kitchen equipment out, which reduced the whole event in the media into a nonsensical attack on a small businesses's stuff as though that was what we're all about, and achieved about the same thing as nonviolent CD, but erased the message people had set about to do, even though in that area there is nightly vandalism and car theft that causes more damage- everyone in such a breakaway should try to reach consensus ahead of time about what is appropriate to do. Even the bank that got it's windows broken in November was at least a bank with bad practices. I think the regular contingent in the march of people who favor nonhierarchical gov't forms, and were handing out flyers was good.

Good job to you guys, Im glad that your all ok. I was with the group that was going to go to the Jail, We wernt sure if it was at 850 Byrant or not but the rest of the bloc had gotten back together on height and fillmore and were ready to come to you guys.

Great job getting the bloc to slip away and meet back up at that spot, good job today.

this is what a protest should look like. thanks for letting me join you today. the ANSWER (synonymous with LAPD) parades and walking tours of Hollywood and West L.A. are completely invisible to the people we need to reach out and have join us. ANSWER-LA has such a strangle hold on the movement that any breakaway or direct action or even talk of a breakaway is stopped or entirely marginalized. my friends and i have been called "trouble makers" and worse by ANSWERS leadership.

thanks again!!

in solidarity
LA@

I did participate in the breakaway march today, all the way up to the regrouping at haight st, and I would like to commend everyone for catching the cops off guard this time. (As opposed to last year when they were waiting for us with 150+ officers on guard) On the other hand, I would like to add that destruction of private property must be organized, and the seemingly senselss demolition of the sinks (even though they were being used to block the road for bike cops..) just gave the media the negative image they needed to portray it as "senselss vandalism". If things are going to be destroyed, and they should, make sure you hit the appropriate targets. (ie: military recruitment centers..?) I had to go my separate way before the assault on the Gap/McDonalds, so I don't know all of the details concerning the amount of property damage, (with the amount of people gathered before I left, it couldn't have been too much) but I do believe that with more organization, the Anarchist Action could be much, much more effective on both their protest breakaway tactics and direct action.

ps: glad to hear that everyone got released okay!

Maybe a better tactic would have been not to split off from the peaceful protest march and go break shit and generate negative publicity for the peace movement as a whole. People on the right like associating your antics with those of peace activists. It makes them feel better about their own warped views.

you would prefer we march in ANSWERs bubble where no one can see us? the nearest open intersection was 2 to 3 blocks away in any direction we traveled with ANSWERs walking tour of the San Francisco neighbourhoods. i sorry i missed the regrouping later in the evening but i had to get back to Sacto.

in solidarity.

I dont know, I stayed in the 'bubble' and found that the message was conveyed effectively enough. Its just a shame that only 9 people out of all the spectators standing on the corners of 14th and Valencia had the balls to sit in that intersection. A more interesting tactic might have been to spread out a little and send some kids up to 16th and Mission for a sit-in. Then you'd be creating a real scene- blocking the 22 and the 49 busses, spreading the cops out, etc...

The truth is, the people at the tail end of the breakaway march helped that guy pick up all his stuff.

I even apologized, saying we weren't mad at him, just the system. I helped him pick up all of his shit because he didn't represent big business in any way, and seemed like a nice working class business owner.

We picked all of his stuff up so quick, that he didn't have to pick any of it up himself at all, and nothing seemed damaged whatsoever. I felt that the main reason his stuff was knocked over, was to barricade the SF's SS from pursuing us further with thier clubs and guns and pepper spray. And it somewhat worked, with the exception of the fleet of Dirtbiked cops with 8 foot billy clubs.

Keep in mind, I was just a random protester, but when I saw the bloc start doing thier thing, the spirit moved me and I felt I had to run with them and give them my support. I barely made it out of the police melee right before the arrests, and my heart was jumping as I saw those clubs swinging at 14 year old girls, girls who seemed to actually care so much about the current state of america, that they did something about it besides talk.

This accomplished what?

Civil Disobedience and Direct Action that results in arrest are usually seen as being driven by a goal of more media coverage (and coverage that stresses that those protesting are serious in their beliefs).

There is a secondary effect that I think is more important. If you look at the pictures you can see that most of those arrested at these thing are relatively new to the activist scene. Many of those arrested are from backgrounds where the reality of police brutality are abstract and where arrest is feared more as an unknown rather than feared because of actual consequences. Arrests at protests in a sense educate new activists to the way police act and to what it means to get arrested. For those who may have just been playing with left-wing political beliefs, pain-compliance techniques and seeing the inside of a jail can lead to more serious long term radicalism. A jail obvioulsy doesnt educated one as much about how rotten the system is at heart as would a prison but giving middle-class radical youth a first hand look at the underbelly of the state is an important component of Direct Action.

Practice, team-building and exercise. Just three of the great benefits of breakaway marches. Thanks to folks who had the energy and motivation to stay out there.

Dreary peacenics - please google the phrase "diversity of tactics."

There isn't a huge difference between "peacenicks" and those who dont have a problem with small-scale property destruction at protests. Risking arrest has more to do with what one has to lose rather that real radicalism. While one often sees those in breakaway protests accusing those who dont want to risk arrest as being sheep, its not a matter of those not wanting to risk arrest being to blinded by wanting following the law. Most hippe-peacenicks who hate violence enage in some sorts of behaviors that risk arrest (such as posession of pot) so its more a question of whether people think its worth risking arrest for the specific action. Its not like taking over a street directly improves people's lives or makes a war less likely so weighing the risks with what can achieve isnt always obvious.

That said, using "diversity of tactics." as a reason why people shouldnt have issues with what does, make no sense. If you propose breaking the window of the only Arab American business on a street you can't argue that its your "right" to do this because of "diversity of tactics". Protests should be diverse and allow various actions but if your actions can impact how others see the overall protest (or could hurt innocent people), "diversity of tactics" provides little excuse. Using the diversity of tactics argument one could justify see the military arguing for the Iraq war based off of removing Saddam; you may not like war but should be open to "diversity of tactics". Of course, there are some differences in that case since the US war was for many other reasons but the whole concept of "diversity of tactics" carries with it the idea that one cant stand up to others doingt something one disagrees with (and while one coudl say this cant be applied to actions of a state there isnt a clear point where such a seperation can be made)

When it comes to an attack on a recruitment center or the like you should argue why the action is a good thing not resort to such vague arguments as "diversity of tactics" which is at its core a hollow and meaningless concept.

i was the one minor female that was arrested (with pink hair) . they kept me at the mission police station and i have a court date. im glad the the people regrouped. i was charged for resisting arrest and blocking an intersection. glad to see that y'all are okay.

loves
alex

You can get all that playing sports. Why go trashing instead?

To "Larry Sellers:" when you say you think the ANSWER folks convey "the message" effectively, what message exactly are you talking about? Personally, I think the ANSWER message is waaaay too reformist and waaaay too focused on specific issues w/o any broader analysis, and mostly ignored or marginalized by the media anyway. Not to mention most people seem to know ANSWER is a front group for the absolutely frightening neo-Stalinist Workers World Party. We in the anarchist contingent don't all share the same "message" as ANSWER, and a lot of times we don't even share the same "message" with each other, but the messages we do want to convey are usually a lot different from ANSWER's, and a hell of a lot more radical. I think we have a right to express those messages in the way(s) we see fit.

As to it being a shame not more people participated in the sit-down, I agree it would have been nice if more people had been willing to get arrested for civil disobedience on Saturday. At the same time, I understand why a lot of people are not willing and/or able to make this commitment. I can only say I think every person has to do what she herself thinks is right.

Finally, as to the idea of blocking 16th and Mission instead of 14th and Valencia: it's a good one. It's too bad we weren't thinking clearly enough at the time to do this, probably because the aftermarch was rather spontaneous. Overall, however, I think the spontaneity of the march was a plus. It allowed us to, as someone already mentioned, catch the cops mostly offguard. I felt like we evaded them a lot longer and more intelligently than last March's breakaway, despite the lack of planning. Maybe next time we could again announce "no organized breakway" and surprise them, but with individual affinity groups having planned actions of their own which they could then execute. This might allow us to take multiple intersections like you suggested, which would be awesome. Also, someone mentioned something to me during the march which I thought was a good idea, which is that we should try to have a direction or goal, e.g. the military recruitment center, instead of marching in circles.

"Working class business owner?" An oxymoronical phrase like that should raise some eyebrows. Nonetheless, I agree there was no real reason to attack this small-timer. Though I did throw stuff in the street to block bike cops when I could, I purposely avoided pissing off the local small business owners by stealing their stuff. (Of course, MacDonalds and Gap are a completely different story!) I just grabbed police barricades and road signs, metal debris, dumpsters, newspaper-stands, etc. I'm glad some people were able to smooth things over with the guy. A nice gesture. It's too bad that, despite this, the media still tried to peg everyone who particpated in the aftermarch with "senseless destruction" and that even some people on this site seem to be replicating this unfair blanket accusation.

"Arrests at protests in a sense educate new activists to the way police act and to what it means to get arrested..." Good observation. Also, civil disobedience, property damage, etc., especially on a large scale, really can cause economic consequences for business and governments, clog up the legal apparatus, and throw a wrench in the system generally, all while contributing to what one might call a "culture of resistance" (as opposed to the current culture of compliance) which is essential to bringing down the system. It's not like the 9 of us who sat down in the street on Saturday achieved that much, to be sure, but you've got to start somewhere. I don't regret the sit-in at all.

The anarchist contigent's activities, including the aftermarch, really impressed and inspired me. My thanks and admiration to everyone who participated. I especially liked that a representative of labor was talking to young anarchists/punks/radicals at the "assembly." Fostering these kind of connections will bear fruit. Lets keep up the good work, plus all the excellent debate and analysis that comes after.

Peace to everyone

I was the random person from Michigan State that crossed the police line to be arrested after you all locked down. I was in town for the composition conference and it was really awesome to march with you all. I just wanted to say that you eight were all really inspiring to watch and you help me to keep my hope alive for the movement. Thank you. I have court back in SF in May for misdermeanor refusing to obey and a crosswalk infraction. Thankfully on the way back I managed to get a free ticket from the airline I flew on for volunteering my ticket on an overbooked flight...

solidarity,

jim ridolfo

That would be really expensive to pay costs like that for civil disobedience.

Of all the intersections in this city, why that intersection? Strategically it was not a good intersection, at all, seriously how difficult would it have been to take a main artery a couple blocks away? Maybe one that didn't happen to provide a free photo-op for the SAB bookstore?

I was also suspecting that the SA bookstore has something to do with the location, but this was the anarchist contingent so why would they want to give publicity to those whiny socialists. I didnt see any socialists sittin in the intersection- though the bookstore was buzzing later that evening...
And to James, I totally understand where you're coming from and want you to know that I did read and appreciate your input.

I participated in the breakaway and I believe the Valencia location had nothing to do with SA. There just happened to be a line of cops up the street, leaving us little choice but to turn around to only be bombarded by another line of cops which happened to be in front of SA. The direction of the march had not been planned out, which is can not be as effective sometimes but i thought we did a damn good job.

In other words, you were out maneuvered by the state, which *did* have a plan.

And this is "damn good job," why?

I've been blocked in with nowhere to go before.
This looks like you had a choice.
http://mike.w2c.net/m1905/images/IMG_1183.jpg

Did we have a choice to block that intersection? Yes, did we have a choice at that point to continue our march... maybe -- but the cops were able to surround us at this point on the sidewalk and the march was left with little options on how to continue.

Overhauling the system requires building of peoples movement to vast scales, deeply rooted among the people and widely accepted. Taking an offensive position can also spell defensiveness speailly when the balance of forces is not on your side. Let us work to deepen our work among the masses and wage a revolution of the people and not only us.